At a Glance
It’s Friday night.
The kitchen table is covered with popcorn bowls. The kids are bouncing with excitement, begging for new TV shows to watch.
Mom and Dad stare at the laptop, exhausted at the week’s end.
They already pay for one subscription - and they’re sick of Netflix slipping the same identity lessons and gender ideology into their living room that is being force-fed to their children at school.
Now they face this decision helplessly: Hulu... or Paramount+?
One more subscription. One more chance to hand their family over to the very culture war they want to escape.
Then, in a moment of pure frustration, they search for answers - and discover something that stops them cold.
This is more than a family’s Friday-night dilemma. It’s the same question that drove Xavier King in Life in Woke America - what’s a person to do when the institutions and big business turn on law-abiding citizens, including their children? Written after the author left the Democratic Party, this is what sparked the founding of the Liberty Index.
The Liberty Index
America’s bold “constitutional culture scorecard” - a clear, reasonable, numeric rating system that measures how reliably people, cities, companies, schools, media outlets, and cultural products stack up against the U.S. Constitution’s principles and the Bill of Rights.
One glance at the Liberty Scorecard changes everything:
The numbers hit like a thunderclap. Hulu is deeply infected with Disney’s woke agenda, making its casting inauthentic and contrived, and its stories vapid propaganda. The other is still not what it used to be - entertainment that portrays a world we know or share. The score, 58, immediately signals that things are improving at Paramount - more to the liking of Mom and Dad.
For the first time, this family - and millions like them - finally have powerful weapons for the raging culture war. Every individual can be a custodian of the conservative values held dear by the U.S. Constitution.Joel Rakow
At the Core of the Index
The Liberty Index score estimates how well the values of any entity align with the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, especially:
- Individual liberty and agency (1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 9th, and 10th Amendments) - not groups.
- Equal protection under the law - no group-based preferences or quotas (5th and 14th Amendments).
- Rule of law, due process, and limited government - rejection of corruption and selective enforcement.
- Free speech, free press, and free exercise of religion - viewpoint diversity without compelled speech or viewpoint discrimination.
- Pursuit of happiness and ordered liberty - merit, family, self-reliance, and cultural stewardship that strengthen the republic.
DEI/ESG policies are treated as evidence of misalignment when they impose race/gender/identity preferences, compelled speech, or political litmus tests that restrain a citizen’s free agency.
Corruption - whether bribery, nepotism, conflicts of interest, or misuse of power - receives the same explicit downgrade as other threats to the constitutional order.
Scores and Tiers
The scoring is a single numeric value between 0 and 100, and it has clear tiers:
These scores and tiers demonstrate the range, or spectrum - from strong constitutional alignment to active opposition - and give users a level of immediacy and precision that is valuable.
- Higher score: stronger alignment with individual liberty, merit, family values, traditional American culture, and minimal forced identity politics/DEI/ESG agendas.
- Lower score: heavier emphasis on DEI quotas/preferences, ESG-driven identity politics, or agenda-over-merit in storytelling, governance, education, and other elements of our culture.
How the Index Works
The Liberty Index is a living platform that delivers transparent 0-100 Liberty Scores for any person, city, company, school, media outlet, or cultural product. It provides a curated score and a crowd-powered score. The two scores appear prominently and visually paired with the entity being assessed.
Two Scores Side by Side
Liberty Curated Score
Produced by the Liberty Index team using publicly available documents - policies, ESG/DEI reports, content, voting records, official statements, donor affiliations, court records, and related material.
User-Community Score
Aggregated from verified users whose ratings are based on their personal combination of evidence, experience, and perception. User ratings appear separately, giving a fuller picture of real-world sentiment.
The Liberty Index carries power and influence when directed at enemies of our constitutional culture. The original overview illustrates the paired scores across cities, the press, public figures, entertainment, colleges and universities, and libraries.
Cities
The Press
Public Figures
Entertainment
College & University Libraries
Justification for Curated Ratings
The evidence-based ratings are reasonable, if not perfect or irrefutable. They are suitable, we believe, for a great many of life’s decisions. Here are examples of how the curated ratings of four of the entities presented above are justified. You be the judge of their validity:
Scott Bessent (U.S. Treasury Secretary): 81/100
Key evidence: Trump administration Treasury Secretary (confirmed 2025). Actively implements “America First” economic policies focused on merit, tariffs, energy independence (“all-of-the-above” including fossil fuels), and rolling back federal DEI programs. Publicly criticized World Bank/IMF and CFPB for “mission creep” into climate, gender, and social/DEI issues, stating they “impinge on monetary credibility.” Opposes elite-driven climate and identity mandates in favor of practical prosperity and liberty-focused governance.
Why this score: Strong alignment with merit-based economics and pushback against institutional wokeness. (Personal background as an openly gay man is noted in media but does not factor into the policy/actions-based framework.)
Gavin Newsom (Governor of California): 28/100
Key evidence: Long track record embedding DEI/equity into state government (Racial Equity Commission, equity analysis required in all budgets and policies). Signed landmark ESG/climate disclosure laws (SB 253, SB 261) forcing major companies to report emissions and climate risks. Aggressive clean-energy mandates, cap-and-trade extensions, environmental justice initiatives, and sanctuary-state policies. Continued heavy promotion of “equity” frameworks even amid national rollbacks.
Why this score: Textbook high-woke state-level governance prioritizing identity/equity/ESG over pure merit and individual liberty (very close to NYC’s 34).
Yellowstone (TV series, created by Taylor Sheridan): 88/100
Key evidence: Focuses on story-first storytelling centered on family values, land, individual strength, merit, and traditional Western/American themes. Minimal forced identity lectures; often critiques corporate greed, environmental activists, California elites, and gentrification without DEI-style quotas or agenda pauses. Sheridan’s broader work (and the show’s cultural reputation) is widely viewed as anti-woke or “conservative-leaning” by audiences and critics alike - emphasizing real heroes and universal themes over identity politics.
Why this score: One of the strongest cultural examples of “Worth It” entertainment (higher than Epoch Times’ 82 because it reaches massive mainstream audiences with unapologetic traditional values).
Dead End: Paranormal Park (Netflix animated series, 2022): 18/100
Key evidence: Centers explicitly on a gay transgender boy protagonist (Barney) and his journey of identity, family rejection/acceptance, and queer romance. Heavy, overt LGBTQ+ representation and transgender themes are core to the plot and marketing (voiced by a trans actor; praised by reviewers for “groundbreaking” trans visibility aimed at youth). Prioritizes identity politics and inclusion messaging over traditional storytelling or universal themes.
Why this score: Extremely high-woke kids’ content that places agenda and identity front-and-center (lower than the LA Times’ 26 due to its explicit focus on gender ideology for a younger audience).
User Participation
Anyone can visit www.LifeInWokeAmerica.com, sign up, and become a contributor (once the site is announced). An anonymous, but secured (see Controls below), account can be created, thereby enabling users to add new entities and submit or update their ratings from time to time. Users are encouraged to base their ratings on evidence, but may or may not do so. Crowd-powered ratings will comprise a combination of evidence, personal experience, and perception. Many users will want to become verified users.
Security Controls
To ensure integrity and prevent abuse, the Liberty Index employs straightforward but effective quality controls. Every user must be verified as a real person before submitting or editing ratings. Each individual creates a single anonymous Liberty Index identity.
Further verification options include finger scan, eye scan, or some combination of the last four digits of their Social Security number, date of birth, or city of birth. These factors can be readily verified at the time of registration. Users who attempt to circumvent controls (ballot-box stuffing, multiple accounts, etc.) will be eligible for removal and blocking. No user information is disseminated except in aggregated ratings.
These measures strike the right balance between accessibility and protection against bots or coordinated manipulation, while empowering everyday Americans as responsible custodians of constitutional culture.
Unique in a Strong Class of Others
The concept of scoring “liberty” or constitutional alignment is not new. For decades, respected think tanks and advocacy groups have published rigorous numerical rating systems to measure alignment with the principles of individual liberty, the rule of law, limited government, and free markets - core elements of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Cato Institute and Freedom House are two examples, with others identified in the original overview.
Yet these established indices fail to meet the needs of today’s polarized society. For example:
- They focus almost exclusively on countries, states, or politicians - rarely on cities, companies, media, education, art, or entertainment.
- None directly counter today’s scoring regimes for DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) or ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) that dominate corporate America and culture today.
- None explicitly frame themselves as a tool for measuring alignment between everyday American life and the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Cultural Extension for Today’s Needs
The Liberty Index is the natural cultural extension of these respected precedents. It applies the same rigorous, numeric, evidence-based approach - but extends it across America’s cultural landscape (e.g., news outlets, elections, law enforcement, immigration, commerce, education, K-University, art and entertainment). It treats corruption, woke ideology, and lawlessness as direct threats to constitutional order - exactly as America’s Founders would have understood.
The Liberty Index is designed to be the modern, comprehensive constitutional culture scorecard America has been missing: the counterpunch to the outside influences we see undermining the American way of life. Its “Truth in Culture” credo hones it into sharpened iron, empowering citizens as faithful custodians of liberty.
With America’s culture under sustained attack, Americans need more than words. They need a weapon. The Liberty Index is that sharpened iron - a blade forged in the fire of constitutional principle.Joel Rakow
With America’s culture under sustained attack - news media is turned against the people, city governments embrace socialism, elections grow untrustworthy, and laws are enacted to prevent investigations into corruption festering in plain sight - Americans need more than words. They need a weapon. The Liberty Index is that sharpened iron - a blade forged in the fire of constitutional principle. It cuts cleanly through the fog of woke ideology and blatant lawlessness with an inescapable score.
It exposes what was never meant to serve our democratic republic, and rewards what has worked for 250 years of world-beating excellence: individual liberty, merit, equal protection, rule of law, and ordered freedom. The Liberty Index is much more than just another rating system. Every family, every parent, every citizen can now become a Custodian of Constitutional Values.
Read the novel that inspired it. Celebrate the 250th year of the country with more bold purpose. Use the Liberty Index to protect your family’s future.
The Time Has Come
Visit www.LifeInWokeAmerica.com today and join the battle. Become a verified user. Add entities. Submit your ratings. Share the scores far and wide.
Voice yourself on X @inWokeAmerica.
The time has come to wield our sharpened iron - and reclaim the constitutional culture that built the greatest nation in history.
- Joel Rakow, Ed.D., author of Life in Woke America: A Family’s Story of Truth and Betrayal Under Fire